Tall Tales & Murder is a 2026 Irish adventure comedy-drama television series created by Chris Addison and Stuart Carolan. Shot on location in Ireland, the show is a darkly funny "Bonnie and Clyde" style caper that follows a Dublin nursing home nurse and an indebted car thief who find themselves caught in a wild, high-stakes hunt for a comatose gangster's buried Celtic gold. [1, 2, 3]
The six-part first season premiered on RTÉ on 27 September 2026 and dropped as a full boxset on BBC iPlayer on 2 November 2026. It has already been commissioned for a second season. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Core Premise
When an anonymous patient ("Grinner") wakes up from a long coma at a Dublin care facility, he claims to be a notorious gangster who knows the whereabouts of millions in buried treasure. Nurse Bridget and a debt-ridden young car thief named Paul team up to track down the loot, quickly finding themselves pursued by bent coppers, kidnappers, and ruthless local underworld bosses. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Key Cast & Characters
- Bridget (played by Ella Lily Hyland): A Dublin nursing home nurse who decides to take a massive gamble on the treasure hunt.
- Paul (played by Casey Walsh): A young car thief attempting to go straight but heavily indebted to the wrong people.
- "Grinner" McNair (played by Aidan Gillen): The newly awakened comatose gangster who holds the secrets to the gold.
- Ma Baker (played by Philippa Dunne): A formidable crime boss tracking down Paul to collect his outstanding debt.
- Wesley Swanson (played by Packy Lee): A dangerous gangster drawn into the chaotic pursuit of the Celtic millions.
- Detective Bunny Ryan (played by Brian Doherty): A local detective who initially helped Paul secure his job at the care facility. [1, 2, 3]
Production & Origins
The series is loosely based on the Dublin Trilogy book franchise by Caimh McDonnell, starting with the novel A Man With One Of Those Faces. However, co-creator Chris Addison has noted that the adaptation process took the television version far from its source text, describing the show as the "badly behaved goth cousin to Caimh's brilliant novels". The production deliberately leans into geographic specificity to preserve an authentic, grounded Irish tone before the narrative spirals "fully bananas" into dark comedy. [1]
"The Dublin Trilogy" is a critically acclaimed, bestselling comedic crime thriller book franchise written by Irish author Caimh McDonnell. Famously described by its own creator as "numerically infuriating", it is a "trilogy" that actually consists of nine full-length novels alongside several novellas and short story collections. [1, 2, 3]
Set against a gritty but fiercely witty backdrop of Dublin and the surrounding Wicklow Mountains, the books blend fast-paced criminal plots with sharp, laugh-out-loud Irish humor. [1, 2, 3]
The Core Trio
The series initially kicks off with a fractured, accidental team of three distinct, unforgettable protagonists: [1]
- Paul Mulchrone: A well-meaning ordinary guy who possesses "one of those faces" that people constantly mistake for someone else—a quirk that accidentally gets him targeted by the mob. [1, 2]
- Brigit Conroy: A sharp, fiercely intelligent, crime-novel-obsessed nurse who saves Paul's life and becomes his partner in solving crimes. [1, 2, 3]
- Bunny McGarry: A hard-drinking, aggressively violent, but deeply moral renegade Garda detective from Cork who acts as a force for community justice (and chaos). [1, 2, 3]
The Reading Order Matrix
Because the franchise includes direct prequels that trace Bunny McGarry's earlier police career, readers typically tackle the franchise in one of two ways: [1, 2]
| # | Publication Order | Chronological Order |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Man With One of Those Faces (2016) | Angels in the Moonlight (Prequel) |
| 2 | The Day That Never Comes (2017) | Dead Man's Sins |
| 3 | Angels in the Moonlight (Prequel) (2017) | Firewater Blues |
| 4 | Last Orders (2018) | The Family Jewels |
| 5 | Dead Man's Sins (2021) | Fortunate Son |
| 6 | Firewater Blues (2022) | The Man Comes Around |
| 7 | The Family Jewels (2022) | A Man With One of Those Faces |
| 8 | Fortunate Son (2024) | The Day That Never Comes |
| 9 | The Man Comes Around (2026) | Last Orders |
(Note: Companion novellas like Bloody Christmas and Escape From Victory fit comfortably alongside the main publication run). [1, 2]
The Expanded Universe
The universe doesn't end with the main series. McDonnell's books have branched out into immensely popular spin-off series, all available via Caimh McDonnell's Official Book Catalog: [1]
- The McGarry Stateside Series: Follows Bunny McGarry as he takes his unique brand of violent vigilante justice across the Atlantic to contemporary America (Disaster Inc., I Have Sinned, The Quiet Man). [1, 2]
- MCM Investigations: Focuses on the comedic misadventures of the private detective agency founded by the characters in Dublin (The Final Game, Deccie Must Die, The Big Steal). [1, 2]
Would you like a spoiler-free plot summary of the first book to see how it compares to the TV show, or are you looking for the best place to buy or listen to the audiobooks? Knowing what you want to do next helps me give you the exact details.
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